


Mind Control

by rosesandribbons



Series: FebuWhump 2021 [15]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulative Quentin Beck, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mind Games, Mind Manipulation, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:13:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29517903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesandribbons/pseuds/rosesandribbons
Summary: Looking back, Peter should have paid more attention. He shouldn’t have just shrugged it off when something clearly went wrong.From the second Peter had stepped onto that school bus, something had felt wrong. It was as if his spidey-sense finally relaxed, for the first time since he got his powers, it felt as though everything was fine.FebuWhump Day Fifteen: Mind Control
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: FebuWhump 2021 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138787
Comments: 10
Kudos: 117





	Mind Control

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, I wanted to thank you guys for the tremendous support you have been giving me! I love each and every one of you! 
> 
> A mind control prompt was requested by amongthebooks on Ao3, and this was something that I’ve had in my head for a while, so I decided to use it for this prompt. I might also do another mind control prompt after FebuWhump because I have some other ideas for this. 
> 
> I’m planning on getting another story out tonight if I can because I wanted to get this story out yesterday, so make sure to look out for that. Thank you guys for all the love, prompts are always open!

Looking back, Peter should have paid more attention. He shouldn’t have just shrugged it off when something  clearly went wrong.

From the second Peter had stepped onto that school bus, something had felt wrong. It was as if his spidey-sense finally relaxed, for the first time since he got his powers, it felt as though everything was fine.

Not a hair on his body stood, not a single sound or movement had set him off, which was odd, because the world was never perfect. It was never at complete peace, but his body seemed to decide it was.

Peter had ignored the sudden sensation and moved to sit in the seat in front of Ned. A field trip to MoMA wasn’t at the top of the boy’s bucket list, but he decided it  _ was  _ better than a field trip to  Oscorp . Anything was better than that.

He had sat down in front of Ned with a quick hello and quickly pushed his earbuds back into his ears so he could listen to music.

When his  spidey -sense had gone off, it felt weird. Different. Peter had stared at his arm in confusion as the hairs on it stood on end. He didn’t know how to explain it, but something had just felt off. When his senses started itching at him to turn around, Peter looked out the bus behind him to see a giant floating donut.

It looked weird, not that he had ever seen a spaceship before, but something about didn’t seem right. It looked oddly... digital. After staring at the spaceship for a few moments, his senses decided to tell him that he was waiting  too long.

Without thinking, Peter quickly got Ned’s attention and pointed him towards the spaceship. His best friend’s eyes had widened as he jumped from his seat and got the rest of their  classmates' attention.

The feeling of  _ wrong  _ went as quickly as it came, completely disappearing as Peter slapped one of his  webshooters onto his wrist and pulled his mask over his head. After Karen informed him of what she knew and that Mr. Stark was already on scene needing backup, all of Peter’s others thoughts vanished.

That had been a huge mistake.

After stopping Mr. Stark from being crushed to death, a flash of red flew past Peter, which he soon found out was the wizard. Mr. Stark’s voice sounded pretty urgent on not letting him get away, so Peter webbed his way after the flying cloak as fast as possible.

Every time his  spidey -sense buzzed at him when he was about to be punched or hit or thrown, it felt different than normal. More fuzzy and warm compared to the tingle he was used to. But Peter ignored it, because that wasn’t what mattered.

It turned out to be the only thing that should have mattered.

Peter was beamed into space as he gripped his web attached to the wizard. Mr. Stark had followed them up soon after, dropped Peter into his suit and attempted to send him home. And Peter had wanted to go home. He  _ knew  _ he did. But he blamed it on his new suit as he stuck out his arm and attached a web to the side of the spaceship, pulled himself back onboard and climbed inside as a pair of doors shut behind him.

After making his presence known to Mr. Stark, Peter had made a plan to help save the wizard, basing his idea off of the movie  _ Aliens.  _ It had worked, much to his surprise, but something felt wrong. His thoughts from earlier had somehow vanished from his mind, but when Peter caught the wizard before he drifted into space, another odd thing crossed his mind.

He could hear- even over the roar of the spaceship and the blood rushing past his ears in adrenaline- the sound of whatever alien that had  been’s body freeze over. It should have been freezing cold with his feet hanging out the side of the spaceship, and Peter was still clueless as to how the wizard survived after his body had been fully surrounded by space.

After that the majority of Peter’s memories were foggy. He remembered his adrenaline dying down as Mr. Stark asked him to help crash the spaceship, and then he remembered walking around on a foreign planet until that fuzzy feeling came back, telling him that something was coming.

Peter, ever the good child, informed the adults that something was about to happen, his words soon followed by some sort of orb blasting them apart. Long story short, nothing much had happened, they met the Guardians of the Galaxy and made a battle plan for when Thanos showed.

Peter had been pretty confident that everything would be fine. Afterall, Mr. Stark seemed pretty confident about everything, so what did Peter have to worry?

Thanos had eventually arrived and things had been looking good, their plan working out well as Mantis dropped through a portal and took control of Thanos. He had been  _ so close _ to pulling the gauntlet away when Star-Lord got pissed off and head-butted the titan with his gun, ruining the entire plan.

Before he could tell what was happening, Peter watched as Mr. Stark was stabbed straight through his abdomen by Thanos. In one end, out the other. And Peter had expected that to be it. They were all doomed.

But then Dr. Strange had willingly given Thanos the stone, and the titan disappeared through a portal without another word.

The boy hadn’t  known what to do in that situation, he just stared at the empty spot Thanos had  previously been standing in before his thoughts traveled back to his mentor.

The man caught his eye, still sitting on the same rock Thanos had shoved him onto, but the blade was nowhere to be seen. The majority of the Iron Man suit was missing, not even a drop of blood in sight. Mr. Stark didn’t look to be in pain, maybe a bit shaken up, but there weren’t any signs that he had just been fatally stabbed.

No one moved or spoke, just sat in silence at the  realization that they lost.

Everything was starting to feel wrong to Peter, his memory in bits and pieces, but what would feel right about this situation? His day felt fictitious, his mind moving at a buzz, but Peter was sure that was how everyone else had been feeling.

  
After a few moments of silence, Mantis rushed forward to help Quill off the ground, breaking Peter out of his shock as he ran towards Mr. Stark. He helped the man to his feet as everyone slowly looked around the planet, dust beginning to blow in the wind.

“Somethings happening,” Mantis had said. And then she  vanished to dust in seconds.

Horrified, Peter pulled away from Mr. Stark and stepped back as if he had just done that. Moments later, the weird looking red guy disappeared to. And then Star-Lord, and then Dr. Strange.

Peter had hoped that that would be it. That Mr. Stark and the blue lady standing off to the side would stay put. 

But then he started to feel weird.

Peter fell forward into Mr. Starks arms as the man lowered him to the ground. Peter was rambling because he was so scared and god  _ he didn’t want to go. _

His last thought had been about the  uncharacteristic quietness of his mentor-basically-father-figure, as well as the slight green hue behind the man as everything went black.

Then Peter woke up. It had been five years. The  Guardians , Dr. Strange and him were going to go fight Thanos once again, and apparently save the universe.

And they did just that. Peter fought as hard as he could and made sure to leave no crumbs behind. And then the entirety of Thanos’ army vanished. Just like he had minutes- years- ago. But Peter didn’t get the chance to smile, because he looked across the battlefield only to see Mr. Stark looking very much not okay.

He ran to the man in seconds and dropped to his knees, only managing to get a few words out around sobs before he was pulled away by the metal hands of the War Machine suit.

And then there was one less heartbeat on the field.

Followed by a funeral.

And then numbness.

Because in the span of three hours, five years had passed and Peter’s definite father-figure was gone. Peter barely moved the following weeks, not obtaining the energy or motivation to leave his spot in his bed as May tried to keep him healthy.

Eventually the numbness had left, and by the time schools had reopened, Peter was able to make it back on the first day. Unshed tears were in his eyes as he stepped into Midtown, the hole still empty in his heart as he looked around to see if his best friend had made it through the five years or not.

Turns out he hadn't, and he had been waiting for Peter to contact him for weeks. Ned’s chatter and MJ’s  eventual appearance slowly started to make things better for Peter, showing him how to move and function throughout the day without falling apart.

The boy made his way through the year, his grief moving to a dull as his school trip approached.

The trip to Europe was the first thing Peter had been looking forward to since everything had happened, and he couldn’t be more ready to drop his duties and relieve himself for a week.

That didn’t go quite as planned, either.

Everything had been fine. But then a giant water monster appeared out of nowhere, and then Nick Fury was yelling at him in some secret layer, and then he gave Beck the EDITH glasses. Which then led to his current situation.

Peter was chained to a wall with  vibrainium cuffs, Quinten Beck pacing in front of him with a devilish grin on his face. A faint buzz had been following Peter around all day, the sound  irritating him as his kidnapper laughed happily in front of him.

“You know Peter, I would have thought it would have been a bit harder to trick you like this. I mean, aren’t you an Avenger? Aren’t you supposed to be ‘The Next Iron Man’? It’s really a shame, that the world put themselves in your hands.”

Peter was trying desperately to hold back his tears, because he was  _ so done with this.  _ All he wanted was a break for himself, which led him straight into the hands of a psychopath who was going to kill him.

“I have to say kid, you put up one hell of a fight. But that doesn’t fix any of this. The world needs a hero, and that’s what they’re going to get.”

The vigilante’s  spidey -sense had returned only earlier that day when he met Beck on the bridge, which was now tingling like it used to before the day of the blip. His senses flared at him when Beck raised a gun towards his face, so Peter started tugging ruthlessly on his restraints. As much as everything hurt, and as much as he wanted all of this to end, he couldn’t die. He couldn’t leave May or Ned, or Pepper or Morgan who had become some sort of  pseudo family to him.

Just as the tingling in his neck grew worse, the gun held to Peter’s face clicked, and the buzzing by his ears stopped.

“Say hi to Iron Man for me,” Beck said.

An explosion followed by a bang sounded right in front of Peter.

“I think you can tell me yourself.” An all too familiar voice filled Peter’s ears, and his blood ran cold because he was done with Beck’s tricks. He wasn’t falling for the illusion or the voice, it was fake and he knew it.

The gun next to Peter dropped to the floor as Beck was blasted into the wall behind him, the sound of  repulsors dying down making Peter squirm.

“Hey kiddo. Don’t worry, I’m  gonna get you out of here,” Tony said as he stepped towards Peter to unchain his wrists. “Just let me break these off and we’ll-”

“S-stop,” Peter said, a slight tremble to his voice.

“Stop? Stop what? Is there some sort of explosive on you or something?”

Peter opened his eyes for a second before snapping them shut again, the face of his father-figure and the red and gold suit looking so realistic it was unbelievable. The tears he had been trying to hold back finally leaked out of Peter’s closed eyelids.

“ Wh \- hey, hey, hey. Don’t cry, kiddo. It’s okay. FRIDAY said we’re good to break you out of here. Beck just had you under a little spell, but we were able to break it in a couple hours,” Tony tried to sooth Peter the best he could as the boy broke into sobs.

What had him so worked up? He had barely been missing for four hours before FRIDAY had been able to find him on one of Tony’s miniaturized drones. Strange had said he wouldn’t be able to tell what Beck had done until they got Peter back, but the boy should be fine.

As Tony stepped forward and cut through Peter’s chains, Peter started to sob so hard that Tony thought he might pass out. He had never seen his kid in such distress, not even after the vulture or waking up from nightmares.

When the chains on Peter’s wrists broke free, they boy’s legs gave out and his knees crashed to the ground. Tony quickly dropped down next to him and deactivated his suit. He reached forward and placed his hands on Peter’s shoulders, cringing when he flinched away.

What the hell had Beck done to him?

“Pete, it’s just Tony. Mr. Stark. You’re okay. We’ve got to get you to the  Quinjet so you can be checked out.”

Tony reached forward to put his hands on Peter’s shoulders, this time not pulling away when Peter flinched. He started to pull Peter towards him, but the boy weakly outstretched his arms in an attempt to shove him away. In his weak state, his super  strength was basically non- existent , so Tony had no trouble keeping upright.

“Get- get away. Get away! You’re n-not real! S-stop playing your games, Beck! I know it’s not real!” Peter’s voice cracked as Tony pulled him into his arms, still weakly fighting but losing more and more energy.

“I’m real,  Underoos . It’s not a trick, just breathe for me.” Tony grabbed where Peter was still weakly pushing him with his arms to stop Peter from fighting. The genius could tell Peter was hesitant about letting it happen, but the boy’s body  involuntarily fell forward into his mentor’s arms.

“N-no,” Peter whined, even as he burrowed his nose into Tony’s neck. “No, you- you left me. You left me, you left me, you left me.”

Peter continued to sob into Tony's shirt as the man started to rock them back and forth. Peter’s sobs only seemed to be getting worse, and Tony worried that if it went on for much longer, he would pass out. Behind his kid’s back, Tony tapped something into his watch to signal for Bruce to come in the building.

Tony continued to hold Peter as he sobbed, watching as Bruce quietly made his way towards the pair on the floor with a needle in his hand. Tony couldn’t  bear to watch what was about to happen, so he shut his eyes and buried his face in Peter’s curls.

Peter didn’t even feel the pinch in his neck before the world went black.

000

A vague feeling of awareness came and went, but Peter never decided to push at it. He was perfectly content with his floating state. Sometimes he heard voices, other times he heard sniffles, and other times he heard silence.

_ “How did it even happen?” _

_ “Stark, there’s no true way of knowing. His friend said he had been waiting for Peter to get on the school bus, but he never showed. There were no witnesses. He just...  _ _ disappeared _ _.” _

_ “And you’re sure that you guys got whatever it was out of him? How do we know it won’t-” _

_ “It won’t happen again. Your biggest worry should be how he reacts when he wakes. We don’t know what...” _

The voices Peter was listening to faded out before he could hear the rest of the conversation. That’s how he went, in and out, in and out, until one day he was just in.

Peter’s eyes blinked open before he even knew what had happened. He didn’t feel the need to figure out where he was or why he was there, he felt calm and that was all he needed.

But that calm was quickly disturbed by an urgent sounding voice next to him.

“Kid? You awake?” Peter’s eyes widened as everything came back to him. That voice should not be here, not that voice and  definitely not that person.

“Peter. You can look at me.”

On any other day, Peter wouldn’t let himself fall for Beck’s tricks anymore, but  remembering that feeling of being held by Mr. Stark before he passed out, he couldn’t help himself. He turned his head to where Mr. Stark was sitting next to him, nothing but worry on his face.

“You’re not real?” Peter wanted to say it as a statement, like he could tell Beck he knew it was fake, but his voice ended up being more of a whine at the thought.

Peter didn’t miss the way Mr. Stark’s eyes darkened at his question, but the man tried his best to keep the look of hurt off his face.

“I’m real, kid. We’re not sure what all happened to you, but I need you do understand this. Nothing that happened after your field trip to MoMA was real. Besides the things that happened with Beck recently, none if it was real. He put you under some sort of mind control to get to me, put I promise you that from now on, everything is real, alright? Even me.”

Peter’s eyes filled with tears as he nodded, but Tony could see it in his face that he didn’t believe it.

“I promise I’ll show you that this is real, Pete.”

A tear fell down Peter’s cheek as his face crumpled, and Tony reached forward to gently swipe it away with his thumb. Peter flinched from the touch, but soon after leaned into Tony’s palm.

“Mr. Stark?” He asked as he squeezed his eyes shut, making more tears fall down his face.

“Yeah, bud.”

A sob fell from Peter’s lips as Tony started running his hand through Peter’s hair.

“C-can I have a h-hug?”

The boy’s broken tone shattered Tony’s heart, and he quickly moved on to the bed so he could pull his kid into his arms. Peter wrapped his arms around his father-figure and sobbed into his chest once again. The pair sat cuddled up to one another for several more hours, Tony eventually moved to a more comfortable position on the bed.

After Peter had worn himself out after crying his heart out, he fell asleep tucked into the man’s chest.

“It’s all real, Pete,” Tony said as he placed a long kiss to the crown of Peter’s head.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, if any of this was confusing, basically what happened is Peter had been under some sort of mind control that messed with his reality and concept of time, and all of the events of Infinity War and Endgame were in his head. 
> 
> Let me know what you think! Prompts are open! 


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